World Wrestling Entertainment NXT champion Drew McIntyre celebrates following his title victory over Bobby Roode at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III at the Barclays Center last month during SummerSlam weekend. (George Tahinos/SLAM! Wrestling)

Kneeling inside the ring, World Wrestling Entertainment NXT Championship belt in his hands, a ravenous and satisfied Brooklyn crowd still screaming with satisfaction and sweat running down his face, Drew McIntyre could hear nothing.

Those cheers were drowned out by thoughts; thoughts of his wife and their three-year journey of rediscovery; thoughts of hundreds of thousands of miles travelled, thoughts of the many lonely nights on the road and in hotel rooms the world over, thoughts of that day in June 2014 when his lifelong dream job was taken away from him.

As he stared at the championship, oblivious to everything around him, his world felt right again.

"The photograph of me there, on my knees looking at the title, that pretty much says it all," McIntyre said in a telephone interview promoting his coming appearances in St. Catharines and Toronto this weekend. "All the hard work over the past few years and busting my ass, the physical and mental toll ..."

His voice, complete with his strong Scottish accent, trails off. "I was the busiest wrestler in the world and I wasn't home a lot, I was travelling through the UK, and every two, three weeks and these international flights nonstop and I was seeing my wife once, twice a month if that."

His spouse was his biggest supporter. "She was encouraging me, pushing me, pushing me to be the best," he said, gratitude evident in his words. "That was very tough on me, very tough on her, but it was all part of helping the business and helping build my family's future."

For a few seconds in Brooklyn, time stood still.

"That moment, it all felt worth it and the picture just sums up everything I was feeling in that moment," he said, adding it was short lived because Adam Cole, Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly attacked him, with Cole making his NXT debut.

McIntyre couldn't be blamed for savouring a few seconds of personal redemption. Just three years earlier, he, along with then fellow 3MB member and real-life friend Jinder Mahal were released on the same day by WWE, ending a tenure that for McIntyre was at times full of promise and at times personally challenging.

"I got signed (by WWE) the first time when I was 21," the 32-year-old Prestwick, Ayrshire, Scotland, native said. "I'd been training to be a wrestler since I was 15. It was all I ever wanted to do, all I was ever going to do."

In his final year of university, McIntyre made good on his dreams, becoming the first Scotsman to be signed by WWE.

"It was perfect," McIntyre recalled. "I came to America and it was the first time I was on my own. Suddenly, I got over here and (realized that) my mom (had always) done everything for me. The laundry wasn't magically doing itself anymore."

Still just a young man, the learning curve in North America was a steep one, McIntyre recalled. "I kind of learned how to be a functioning human being as well as being a television star on the WWE and learning the American style and how to work the cameras. It was a growing-up experience, especially during my first run."

It was a journey, McIntyre said, that helped shape into who he has become.

"I learned a lot," he said of his first tenure in WWE, which saw him win the Intercontinental and tag team championships during his eight-year run. And while being released was a tough pill to swallow, McIntyre knew the moment he walked out of WWE what he had to do to walk back in.

"When I was released, I (knew) it was time to apply what I learned, sink or swim," he said. "I believed that I had something to offer. This was all I'd ever done."

Rather than licking his wounds, McIntyre set out on a personal journey of his own.

"The WWE had trained me to the point where I had enough knowledge that I could really make a difference in this business," he said. "I was very fortunate that I was given so many opportunities. That's all I've ever asked for, to be given the ball: it's up to me whether I score or not."

Score he did, dominating everywhere he worked, which included Insane Championship Wrestling, EVOLVE, Total Nonstop Action, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, House of Hardcore, What Culture Pro Wrestling and independent wrestling promotions around the world. As Drew Galloway, he truly was the busiest wrestler in the world.

"Thankfully I was given a lot of opportunities," McIntyre said. "I helped build up a few brands across the world, especially in the UK."

His hard work and success did not go unnoticed, as following a successful run in TNA, McIntyre received a call from WWE.

"The timing was just perfect for me to come back and I'm very excited to be home," he said.

Not once in the three-plus years he was gone did McIntyre ever doubt he'd one day return to WWE.

"I knew 100% I would be back," he professed. "I truly believe that if you believe something enough, you can achieve anything. Whatever your passion is, if you believe in it enough, and you work hard enough, you can do anything.

"I was the first ever Scotsman to come from Scotland to (WWE) because I believed it enough. And when I was (released), the first thing I did was go on Talk is Jericho with Chris Jericho and said, 'I'm going to go out, I'm going to achieve a few things, I'm going to show the world who I really am and I'm going to be back home' and I truly believed that. And now I'm back (and) four months later, NXT champion, and everything's just falling into place."

That place is precisely where McIntyre aspired to be, even before a return to the WWE was a possibility, he said.

"NXT was exactly the path that I was looking to take," he revealed. "It's something I told my wife a couple of years ago when things were starting to get rolling and I was really starting to remake my name out there. I told her when I go back, I want to be part of NXT, that's where I'm going to rebuild my image and rebuild and show the world who I am."

Coincidentally, his longtime friend and former 3MB member Mahal is also enjoying the best run of his career, months after returning to WWE himself.

"(We took) different journeys," McIntyre said. "Straight out of the gate, I knew what I was going to do. I had a very clear mission statement. With Jinder, he kind of fell out of it a little bit, and he has spoken about his publicly. He wasn't sure if wrestling, or sports entertainment, was in his future. He was getting a little out of shape, he wasn't quite motivated, but he started pushing, training again, got himself motivated and he got the call to come back to WWE."

While their journeys were different, their paths were in many ways similar, McIntyre said.

"We kept in contact with each other. Both of us would go back and forth about cutting the negatives out of our lives, both of us cut out the alcohol and the partying, which isn't productive for an athlete. We started eliminating anything that wasn't benefiting us, people who weren't benefiting us. We were just very driven and very focused and we were both on the same page in that sense. Our physiques obviously changed, when you train that hard and try that hard and you're that driven, pushing each other and pushing each other. It was so cool that our careers started mirroring each other."

If McIntyre weren't motivated enough by his friend's return to WWE, being there to watch him win his first WWE Championship put his motivation through the roof.

"The fact that he won the WWE title and I got to be there was just an absolutely unbelievable feeling, just watching the growth and the change that he made and he truly went from a boy to a man," McIntyre said, a smile evident even over the phone. "For myself, (I left) as a boy and came back as a man ..."

Full-circle was reached shortly after SummerSlam in Brooklyn, back at the hotel, following a weekend that saw McIntyre win the biggest match of his WWE career and that saw Mahal successfully defend his WWE title at one of WWE's marquee events.

"After the show, (I remember) myself and Jinder in the hotel room, both with our titles, looking at each other and saying, 'Imagine three years ago if somebody said this was going to happen?'" McIntyre mused, re-living the moment. "We'd probably have told you you were absolutely insane. But we did it. We believed in ourselves and it's a message to anybody out there who has a dream that seems impossible. Nothing is impossible. Just look at Jinder Mahal and Drew McIntyre."

While Mahal continues his evolution on Smackdown, McIntyre is focused on his NXT reign, with two shows in southern Ontario.

"I love Canada," he said. "(It has) a great history with wrestling, obviously, with the Hart family, the Edges, Christians and Jerichos, etc. It's just a fantastic place. When you talk about knowledgeable fans, Canada is a place. They really know what they're talking about and they really love the wrestling and the guys who can really get it done in the ring. This is like a match made in heaven this show. You've got the guys who can get it done in the ring, you've got the knowledgeable crowd ... this is going to be a pretty cool show."

A no doubt boisterous crowd awaits the NXT stars. The roar of a boisterous WWE crowd is something McIntyre has learned to truly appreciate the second time around.

"The fans have been great," he said. "NXT fans are so knowledgeable. They know what's going on. They know what I've been up to the past few years. That was another reason big reason why I wanted to be part of NXT first."

McIntyre returned on WrestleMania weekend in Orlando, debuting in the NXT Takeover Orlando crowd. "I had such a wild day. Everything was arranged that day and I didn't have minute to think about how the fans would react until I was in my seat. It eventually crossed my mind, 'Wow, what if they don't react? What if they don't cheer, what if they don't boo? What if they don't any noise?' That would be the worst thing of all."

The fans that night, and every night since, have came through the big Scotsman.

"When I heard the response and they showed me on screen, it was a pretty cool feeling."

McIntyre considers his return to WWE much more than a second chance, much more than redemption. To him, it's proof that his lifelong mantra has never steered him wrong: if you believe in it enough, you can do anything. He hopes his example inspires others in whatever walk of life they're pursuing.

"It means the world to me (if I've) given (someone) the confidence to pursue their dreams watching the journey I've been through. They've watched me grow up, they've seen me fall down and they've seen me pull myself up. I just want you to know if I can do it, you can do it, too."

Jan Murphy is the news editor at the Kingston Whig-Standard and has written about wrestling for more than 20 years. He launched Chinlock.com to archive his wrestling stories. You can follow Jan on Twitter at @Jan_Murphy.